Where People Live
Southeast Asia is home to more than 650 million people spread across eleven countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. People are not spread evenly. Some areas are very crowded, while others have very few people. Population distribution describes how people are spread out, and population density is the number of people living in each square kilometre.
Key idea
People gather where survival is easy: flat land, fresh water, fertile soil and jobs. They avoid steep mountains, thick forests and swamps.
Why Settlements Grow
A settlement is a place where people live, from a small village (kampung) to a large city. Several factors decide where a settlement begins and how fast it grows:
- Relief – flat lowlands and river valleys are easy to build on and farm.
- Water supply – rivers and coasts give drinking water, food and transport.
- Fertile soil – river deltas such as the Mekong support wet-rice farming and feed many people.
- Economy – factories, ports and trade attract workers to towns and cities.
Deltas like the Mekong (Vietnam) and Chao Phraya (Thailand) and large cities such as Jakarta, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur have very high densities. Highlands, rainforests and swampy zones such as parts of Borneo and Kalimantan have low densities.
Rural and Urban
A rural area is countryside where most people farm or fish, while an urban area is a town or city with many jobs and services. Across the region people are moving from villages to cities to find work; this movement is called urbanisation.
Remember
- Distribution = how people are spread; density = people per km².
- Lowlands, river deltas and coasts are crowded.
- Mountains, forests and swamps have few people.